Sinn Féin EU Candidate for the Midlands NorthWest Constituency Matt Carthy has, along with Donegal Sinn Féin TDs Pearse Doherty and Pádraig MacLochlainn, outlined the party’s 10 proposals to boost the Small and Medium Enterprises sector in the Colab Small Businesses Development Centre in Letterkenny IT.
Speaking after presenting Sinn Féin’s policy document ‘Putting SME’s First’to Patsy Donaghy, Manager of the Centre, Matt Carthy said: “I was delighted to have the opportunity to launch this document in the Colab, which does tremendous work in supporting small and medium enterprises in Donegal.
“The Colab provides a wide range of services to start ups and existing small businesses from the development of Business Ideas to sourcing investment, funding, premises and ultimately creating jobs. I commend them on their fantastic work, which will be further complemented by the establishment of the Science and Technology Park in the near future.
“However, despite the commendable work being undertaken by facilities such as the Colab, it is clear that Government intervention is required to address many of the issues facing Small and Medium Businesses on a daily basis.
“The greatest potential for jobs growth in this State is within the Small and Medium Enterprises sector (SME’s). Almost 70% of people employed in Ireland are employed in this sector.
“The focus of successive Fine Gael, Labour and Fianna Fáil governments, however, has always been on Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) – something the current Government revisited again in its latest ‘Jobs action plan’.
“An overemphasis on FDI has left the SME sector struggling. They are the life-blood of the Irish economy, and cannot be neglected.
“SMEs made huge sacrifices throughout the recession. Some 128,000 jobs were lost in the sector between 2008 and 2012.
“In Donegal, many towns and villages have been affected by business closures in recent years and the domestic economy has suffered due to a lack of ideas from the current Government on how to address the relevant issues. There has been little debt write-off, few legislative changes to assist them and a clear lack of focus from Government when it comes to SMEs.
“Sinn Féin believes that there are 10 steps that can be taken to effectively assist SMEs to develop and create jobs now.
“Our proposals, which we outline in detail, are to increase consumer demand; abolish upward only rents; tackle utility costs and rates; revive ‘Brand Ireland’; open up procurement; end unnecessary license delays; resolve SME distress and priorities access to credit; increase labour intensive infrastructure investment and to tackle the costs of doing business on the border.
“For Sinn Féin, SMEs are the priority when it comes to fostering indigenous industry and ensuring job creation.
“I strongly urge this government to consider our proposals as a matter of urgency for the SME sector.”
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